GMD Poll: Iron Maiden Albums Ranked

[crimsonfloyd]

Directions: Rank Iron Maiden’s 16 studio albums. Order and number each album 1-16. Ties are not allowed. Your first place album earns 16 points, your second place album earns 15 points, etc.

You may rank as few as 8 albums. Lists with less than 8 albums will not be counted. If you list less than 16 albums, the first placed album will still get 16 points, the last placed album will still get 1 point, and the albums in between will have points distributed proportionately.

At the end, the albums will be ranked based on their average number of points per vote.

You have until June 25th to finalize your list, re-familiarize yourself albums you haven’t heard in a while, familiarize yourself with albums you haven’t heard at all, lobby for any albums you think are underrated, and lobby against any albums you think are overrated.

And please, no pseudo-Machiavelli shit. Just rank them as you see them.

List of albums:
Iron Maiden (1980)
Killers (1981)
Number of the Beast (1982)
Piece of Mind (1983)
Powerslave (1984)
Somewhere in Time (1986)
Seventh Son of Seventh Son (1988)
No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
Fear of the Dark (1992)
The X Factor (1995)
Virtual XI (1998)
Brave New World (2000)
Dance of Death (2003)
A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
The Final Frontier (2010)
The Book of Souls (2015)

 

[Vegard Pompey]

Piece of Mind
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
Killers
Iron Maiden
Number of the Beast
The Final Frontier
Seventh Son of Seventh Son
A Matter of Life and Death
No Prayer for the Dying
The X Factor
Dance of Death
Brave New World
Fear of the Dark
Virtual XI
The Book of Souls

Consistent fucking band. I greatly enjoy the top 13 albums on this list, and Fear of the Dark is at least interesting in that it feels like a collection of B-sides, with several songs that resemble nothing else in their discography. (The Apparition? Wasting Love? Be Quick or Be Dead? Some peculiar songs on that one.)

The Final Frontier is super underrated imo, and I think the reason for that is that it starts with a run of really bad songs which makes you zone out and leaves you unreceptive to the second half of the album which is fucking amazing and the best thing they ever recorded past their golden years. I myself didn't realize the album was secretly amazing until years after its release.

 

[RadicalThrasher]

Subject to change


1. Somewhere in Time
2. Powerslave
3. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
4. Piece of Mind
5. Number of the Beast
6. Killers
7. Iron Maiden
8. Fear of the Dark
9. A Matter of Life and Death
10. Dance of Death
11. Brave New World
12. The X Factor
13. No Prayer for the Dying
14. Virtual XI
15. Book of Souls
16. The Final Frontier

Need to listen to Final Frontier a little more and haven't listened to Book of Souls yet. The order might flip flop a little in the top 5, Somewhere in Time will stay at #1. Everything else can possibly change, haven't listened to some of those albums in a while.

 

[The Ozzman]

This is going to be harder than Priest imo. I will probably have most of their post 2000 material in my Top 10. AMOLAD is underrated. I checked it out again last week and was surprised at how much better it seemed.

 

[Krow]

I actually havent heard the albums from 95-06 so I guess I'll need to get on that.

 

[The Ozzman]

I actually havent heard the albums from 95-06 so I guess I'll need to get on that.

...the fuck?

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

I will probably have most of their post 2000 material in my Top 10. AMOLAD is underrated. I checked it out again last week and was surprised at how much better it seemed.

Yeah same here. I love the newer stuff, AMOLAD in particular.

 

[Krow]

...the fuck?

I've probably listened to a song or two and never purchased the albums so yeah, never heard the whole things because I dont download full albums.

 

[The Ozzman]

I've probably listened to a song or two and never purchased the albums so yeah, never heard the whole things because I dont download full albums.

The only ones I don't own are Virtual XI and No Prayer for the Dying but I should probably buy them soon.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Iron Maiden
Killers
Piece of Mind
The Number of the Beast
Powerslave
Somewhere in Time
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
The Book of Souls
The Final Frontier

 

[Oblivious Maximus]

Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
A Matter of Life and Death
Brave New World
Piece of Mind
Dance of Death
The Book of Souls
The Final Frontier
Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden
Killers
Fear of the Dark
No Prayer for the Dying
The X Factor
Virtual XI

 

[EspaDa]

Haven't listened to The Book of Souls. I might change that soon.

Piece of Mind
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Somewhere in Time
Powerslave
Dance of Death
Iron Maiden
Killers
The Number of the Beast
Brave New World
The Book of Souls
A Matter of Life and Death
The Final Frontier
The X Factor
No Prayer for the Dying
Fear of the Dark
Virtual XI

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Definitely not the most consistent band, but with those first five albums they don't need to be.

Killers - best rhythm section, highest level of energy, the album I enjoy most
Piece of Mind - the definitive Iron Maiden album that represents everything amazing about them
Powerslave - at their technical peak and most epic
Number of the Beast - a couple of slightly weak points and recycled chord progressions hold it back slightly, two-thirds of the album are still them at their best
Iron Maiden - as above but a couple less all-time greats
No Prayer for the Dying - fuck the haters, the weak points are generally still fine even if the peaks are closer to 9s than 10s
Somewhere in Time - at its best fantastic, Smith's contributions particularly help the album stand out as its own thing, but suffers from being the first Maiden album to be particularly bloated, choruses began going downhill here
Brave New World - about as much as you can ask from a reunion album, band is in top form, there is a little in common with the classic material but for the most part it stands out both in writing and sound as something new for them, it's unfortunate how overlong this is though but makes sense with some of these songs being Virtual XI leftovers
The X Factor - I really don't dislike anything about this album anymore, also a unique Iron Maiden album and probably their moodiest, have to be in the right nostalgic mood to really appreciate it however, and these days Sign of the Cross and Blood on the World's Hands are the only songs I'd call great though
Seventh Son of Seventh Son - this was once my all-time favorite album, but the lack of riffs and failure to unify poppier songwriting with a more pompous and tired energy really hurts what could have been a great album
The Final Frontier - what Vegard said, Isle of Avalon through The Talisman is an excellent run and Starblind is my favorite reunion-era Maiden song, but the bad parts are really shit
Fear of the Dark - aside from Virtual XI this is their most embarrassing album, so many horrible songs, but Murray's contributions, particularly Chains of Misery and Judas Be My Guide, are excellent
A Matter of Life and Death - tired dull album where nearly every song has an excessive intro/outro line, war theme becomes grating, but on the plus side Lord of Light and the first 5.5 minutes of The Legacy are 10/10 material
The Book of Souls - Dickinson saved this one from total disaster, the non-bookend tracks are mostly mediocre and full of rehashery
Dance of Death - big shitty vibes all over the place, even though the songs are relatively shorter and non-repetitive they don't change that the production is garbage, Dickinson's voice is at its worst, and it's chock full of absolutely stupid ideas, Age of Innocence is the only song I really enjoy
Virtual XI - an even bigger joke than St. Anger, this album has a single harmony line in Como Estais Amigos that I enjoy, that's about it

 

[Talos of Atmora]

1. Powerslave
2. Killers
3. Piece of Mind
4. Somewhere in Time
5. Iron Maiden
6. No Prayer for the Dying (an album that has tracks like Tailgunner, Fates Warning, the Assassin, the title track and Mother Russia doesn't even remotely suck)
7. Brave New World
8. The Number of the Beast
9. The X Factor (a surprisingly entertaining listen, I'll be honest)
10. Fear of the Dark
11. The Final Frontier (what HBB and Vegard said regarding the latter half)
12. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
13. The Book of Souls
14. A Matter of Life and Death
15. Dance of Death
16. Virtual XI

 

[The Ozzman]

@HamburgerBoy

Agreed. The X Factor is overlooked by everyone. Some really good stuff on there and The Sign of the Cross is a Top 30 Maiden song for me.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

6. No Prayer for the Dying (an album that has tracks like Tailgunner, Fates Warning, the Assassin, the title track and Mother Russia doesn't even remotely suck)

Damn straight (but you should replace The Assassin with Public Enema Number One).

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Agreed. The X Factor is overlooked by everyone. Some really good stuff on there and The Sign of the Cross is a Top 30 Maiden song for me.

Of all their '90s stuff, it's also the one I feel most obligated to give another chance. Frankly, I haven't.

 

[The Ozzman]

Of all their '90s stuff, it's also the one I feel most obligated to give another chance. Frankly, I haven't.

Yeah I can see that. It's really not as bad as people say. Virtual XI I can understand.

 

[CiG]

1. Piece of Mind (1983)
2. Somewhere in Time (1986)
3. Powerslave (1984)
4. Iron Maiden (1980)
5. Number of the Beast (1982)
6. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (1988)
7. Killers (1981)
8. Brave New World (2000)
9. Dance of Death (2003)
10. A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
11. The Book of Souls (2015)
12. Fear of the Dark (1992)
13. Virtual XI (1998)
14. No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
15. The Final Frontier (2010)
16. The X Factor (1995)

 

[Vilden]

1. Somewhere in Time (1986)
2. Powerslave (1984)
3. Seventh Son of Seventh Son (1988)
4. Piece of Mind (1983)
5. Killers (1981)
6. Number of the Beast (1982)
7. Iron Maiden (1980)
8. The X Factor (1995)
9. Brave New World (2000)
10. No Prayer for the Dying (1990)
11. Fear of the Dark (1992)
12. Dance of Death (2003)
13. A Matter of Life and Death (2006)
14. Virtual XI (1998)

I haven't really listened to The Final Frontier or The Book of Souls (the only ones I don't own) so left them out.